Brain is on the Menu
by caitgirl1
Summary: As Jace and the Lightwoods are stranded off the coast of a foreign country, they meet Clary and Simon while looking for supplies. Forced to work together, will they make it out of the zombie infested city? Zombie AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Hope you like the idea. I promise it will get better. This is just an introduction. I got the idea of the zombie apocalypse and being on a boat from watching play throughs of the new Walking Dead Michonne DLC. I would also like to thank RevyCaitEll for beta reading this chapter. If you like Danny Phantom, you should check her story out. Enjoy! :)**

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Jace woke up to the sound of wood being snapped and torn to pieces. Although he was still half asleep, his senses were still better than any normal human being's would ever be. He was below the deck of the boat and when he stood up from his bed, he was met with icy cold water that went up to his knees. _That's not good._

Immediately Jace sprinted towards the staircase that would lead him to the deck of the ship. He was met by two familiar faces that were arguing with one another, as usual. Isabelle and Alec Lightwood, the infamous Zombiehunter siblings. Izzy immediately turned to Jace, her eyes fuming.

"Jace, what in hell did you do?" Izzy asked angrily.

Jace raised a hand to his chest in mock hurt.

"Izzy, I am offended you think this was my doing. Although I am pleased you think that I could cause this much destruction." Jace replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The boat tilted alarmingly to the left. Alec rushed to the side of the old fishing trawler, trying to see anything that would suggest what they had struck. To his dismay, jagged rocks jutted out from the murky water.

"Aw crap. We've got some rock issues." Alec said over his shoulder.

"Dammit guys! I go asleep for a couple of hours and we hit rock bottom. Which one of you dipshits was steering?" Jace scowled, glaring at the two offending siblings in front of him.

Izzy averted her gaze to the ground, looking extremely guilty.

 _"You!"_ Jace narrowed his eyes as he pointed a long, slender finger at the dark haired female.

"What the hell were you doing? How could you miss those rocks?! They're huge! And very pointy!" He continued.

"I was….doing something, that wasn't steering the ship." Izzy replied, clearly frustrated.

Alec squinted into the distance. If he wasn't mistaken, he could see land. A city in fact. This could be good, they were running low on food and water after all…

"Hey guys, I think that instead of standing here pointing fingers at one another, we should do something productive before we sink." Alec stated plainly.

"Yes, I agree with Alec! Which doesn't happen often so it means it's a good idea." Izzy agreed, clearly wanting to stop being grilled by Jace for her lack of concentration.

"Ok, but if we're going, someone has to stay behind to make sure we don't go completely underwater. As this is all Izzy's fault I vote that she is the one that stays behind." Jace smirked.

Izzy began to complain but was interrupted by her brother who just raised a hand as if to say _complaining won't change anything_. She groaned, but nodded her head, accepting her fate as Alec and Jace descended the stairs to retrieve their weapons.

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Alec and Jace pulled up to the tall concrete walls of the harbour. There were large cement slabs that looked like steps leading up the wall. A rusted rail ran alongside the slabs. Alec hopped out onto the slippery, seaweed covered steps, falling back into their dinghy.

"Hey! You're hurting _Josh_. Say sorry." Jace cried out, blatantly offended.

"I'm not apologizing to your dinghy. And _Josh_? _Really_?" Alec stared at Jace in disbelief.

Alec hopped out of the dinghy once again, staying on his feet this time. He grabbed the dinghy's rope and tied it securely to the rusting rail. Jace followed Alec up the so called stairs, cautious not to attract any unwanted attention. It would probably be bad to be eaten in a foreign country. Death by foreign zombies doesn't sound thrilling.

They stalked into the city, sticking to the shadows. They searched the surrounding buildings for any remaining supplies. As the two hunters progressed up the street, Jace's attention was pulled to the massive, pointed metal spike in the middle of the street. Surrounding the spike was a massive horde of the flesh eating creatures that now dominated the world. It appeared like they were attacking their own reflections. _Are really that stupid?_

"We gotta sneak past them. There's too many for us to take on." Alec whispered, gesturing with his knife towards the sixty or so zombies surrounding the metal base.

"Well no shit! I'm good but I'm not that good Alec." Jace replied.

Alec narrowed his eyes at his friend and scowled. It wasn't a pleasant sight.

They darted down a side street, almost colliding with another zombie. This one was ugly, like the others, with rotting teeth, glazed over eyes and decaying flesh.

"Shit!" Jace cursed as he drew one of his many knives.

The zombie growled and swiped at Jace, who narrowly dodged. The zombie let out a frustrated rumble as it prepared its dead muscles to attack again. Jace was quicker. He unsheathed his long blade and slashed at the zombie's stomach. The knife's edge met its target as it cut the decaying lump of meat open, releasing the potent smell of blood and rotten flesh. It was a bad mixture of smells.

The zombie stumbled backwards but continued to come at Jace. Jace sighed. _These buggers really don't want to die._ As the thought emerged in Jace's head, Alec appeared behind the stumbling mess of a zombie. In his hand was a sword, long and unbelievably sharp. Alec swung the sword and it met the zombie's neck, slicing through it with ease. The head dropped to the pavement with a sickening crack, and the body followed.

"Thanks, I could've handled it," Jace grunted.

"I know. But I can't let you have all the fun now can I?" Alec smirked.

Jace glared at him but they continued down the thin side street.

And then they heard some idiot scream. It didn't really sound female, but it was embarrassingly high pitched.

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 **So, that's the intro! Hope you liked it. I'm just saying now that the reason they aren't in New York is because I have never been there so I wouldn't have a clue about what I'm talking about. So I set it at my home! Hope that doesn't piss you off too much!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it! :)**

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Alec and Jace turned in the direction of the high pitched scream. _Who in hell would scream in a frikkin' zombie apocalypse?!_ The two hunters burst into action, sprinting as fast as they could towards where they had heard the awful screech from. Heavy breathing and growling could be heard as Jace and Alec grew closer to their target.

As they rounded a corner, Jace spotted two people backing away from a horde of zombies and ran towards them. _Shit_. Jace shot Alec a worried glance. They both still had blood stained weapons in their hands and they got prepared to fight. Alec jumped in front of the boy with dark hair and glasses. He was clearly the one who had screamed, the idiot. Jace jumped in front of the short, red haired girl that accompanied the nerdy looking boy. They both looked terrified and confused.

The redhead yelped in fright as Jace swung his knife at a zombie that was getting too close for comfort. The zombie fell to the ground, sprawled out on its stomach. The horde grew closer, but Alec and Jace held their ground, ruthlessly slicing into the undead.

Jace grunted as he dodged a swipe to his head, cutting off the offending zombie's arm. He wiped the decayed blood off his face and kicked the zombie's legs out from under it, finishing the job with a knife to the forehead.

Alec arced his crystal sword through the air, mercilessly chomping into any zombie that got too close. Five minutes later, and still the zombies lumbered forward, the rotten stench of blood and maggots saturated the air.

"There's too many of them," Alec ducked as his neck was targeted.

"Yeah, we need to find some place to hole up," Jace replied as he stabbed another zombie in the gut.

Jace turned to the shocked strangers that stood behind them.

"Follow me!" Jace called as he ran away from the zombies.

The four of them sprinted down the bumpy pavement, aiming to hide in a Spar at the end of the street. They burst through the doors, shutting them in their wake. Jace moved to an empty shelf, pushing it in front of the door.

"Hey, you know I could really use some help here!" Jace shouted at no one in particular.

The other three living people fumbled around, trying desperately to find anything to help block the door. The barricade consisted of multiple shelves, a chair and a TV. It looked stable enough, if they were lucky it would hold until they thought of a plan.

"Ok, so, to start things off, my name is Jace Wayland. This is my friend Alec. We are Zombiehunters. Now, who might you be?" Jace asked plainly.

The two strangers stared at Jace, completely dumbstruck.

"I-I'm Clary. And this is Simon. Did I hear you right? Did you honestly just say _Zombiehunter_?" Clary stuttered.

"Yes, yes I did." Jace stated matter of factly.

"We hunt zombies, if you hadn't already guessed that by now. Don't be offended, but how are you still alive? Considering you have a screamer with you." Jace indicated towards Simon, who looked displeased about his new nickname.

"Hey, in my defence a zombie came out of nowhere and grabbed me! It was scary!" Simon stated, desperately trying to defend himself. He failed.

"Ok then. You guys sound American, but I'm pretty sure we're not in America. There's no skyscrapers and there's a ton of Carroll's shops lining the streets, which we don't have back home. Do you have any idea where we are?" Alec asked, cutting in before Jace had time to slag Simon.

"Yes, we know where we are! We're in Dublin, Ireland. We were on a tour of the city when this whole zombie thing broke out. We were learning about how the Spire, the big metal spike in the middle of a street, was built to mark the new millennium." Simon answered, blatantly trying to prove his worthiness to the strangers.

 _Huh, so that's what that metal thing was..._

"We've been hiding out in the Gate theatre, down at the end of O'Connell Street." Clary informed them.

Simon glared at her. He clearly didn't trust these people and didn't want them to know where they were staying. They had just killed about twenty zombies in five minutes using nothing but very sharp knives.

"Ok, well, I hope you enjoy you're stay in Dublin. We'll be off now so I hope you survive and all that. Oh, a word of advice, don't scream, no matter what. Noise attracts zombies you moron!" Jace said as he searched for a back exit that lead out of the shop.

Alec nodded his farewell as he tried to help Jace. He wanted to help these people but there wasn't enough room or supplies on the boat to support five people.

"Hey you can't leave us here! We'll be eaten! We will never survive. You've gotta take us with you!" Simon pleaded.

"No. You're annoying and last time I checked, we saved your lives so we owe you nothing. You've got nothing to offer us so we're leaving." Jace called over his shoulder as he found a door leading to a backstreet.

Jace sauntered out of the shop and Alec followed. Clary and Simon ran out after them.

"We've got food and water. A lot of it too. It's in the theatre. If you bring us with you, you can have it." Clary tried to compromise.

An idea formed in Jace's head. Usually in a theatre there is props and the stage is made from wooden planks. That would mean the trawler could be repaired and they would have more food and water. Although the two people standing before him seemed harmless, he still didn't trust them completely. But he needed to fix the boat and get away from this horribly Irish city. It's not like they could stop him from getting what he wanted, considering he was a trained fighter and they had no training whatsoever.

"Ok, you've got a deal." Jace agreed, holding out his hand to shake on it.

Clary took his hand as Alec stared at Jace, his eyes unreadable. Alec trusted Jace and wasn't going to question his decision, but he really hoped that whatever he was thinking worked. He had a sister to get back to and he wasn't going put her in danger for total strangers. And annoying strangers at that.

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 **So, what did you think? I'm hopefully going to bring in a bit more action into the next chapter but I don't know what else to do... Anyway, hope you enjoyed and I will start on the next chapter as soon as I possibly can!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. Here's the next chapter! I hope you like it. I probably won't be able to update I til this weekend because I have orals to study for, but I'll try my best! Enjoy! :)**

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The Gate Theatre was a strange looking place. It's consisted of two buildings from different eras mashed together to form a quirky theatre. On the left hand side, there was an old building with four large stone pillars coming down from the roof to just above the entrance. It had long, rectangular shaped windows that peeped out from behind the pillars. On the right hand side of the building however, there was pretty much just a large, white cement block. It had no windows facing out onto the street, but it had holders for the posters that hung up there when a play was being performed. The cement block had a huge doorway with wooden doors and a semicircle of a window above it.

There were no zombies around. This was probably because Jace and Alec had killed any in sight. Also, the Spire was just down the street and it seemed to distract the zombies. It looked like they were trying to eat their own reflections... _Stupid undead morons._

"That the place?" Alec asked, his eyes darting around, making sure they didn't have any unexpected company, living or dead.

"This is the place." Clary nodded.

They crossed the road and entered the theatre. It was dimly lit, creating an eery atmosphere. They proceeded into the theatre area. It was small but it seemed comfortable. The ceiling was high with two chandeliers dangling down. The chandeliers weren't massive, but they weren't exactly small either. The ceiling had a strange looking snowflake pattern plastered all over it. The seats were red and cushioned. There wasn't an overload of seats, thank god, because it made it easier to move things around the place.

The stage floor was made of wood, as luck would have it. This was exactly what Jace and Alec needed to fix the trawler. Clary and Simon flung themselves into seats as the two Zombiehunters scoped out the place. Behind the stage, there was a lot of props. Most of them weren't really useful, but you could break them and make weapons if push came to shove. There was also a small room where there was a lot of food and water. It must've been for the cast of the play before the outbreak.

There was a lot more food and water than Alec and Jace had thought there would be. It would be perfect to bring back to Izzy. All of it was cooked and ready to go so they didn't have to put up with Izzy trying (and failing, epically) at cooking. This completely upped Jace's spirits. The thought of having a good meal made him excited. He hadn't eaten properly in weeks. But, unfortunately, now was the time to work, not to eat.

Both Alec and Jace had big duffel bags with them so that they could gather supplies from the city. Now both bags were filled with food and water, but no wood. At this rate, they didn't have any room left for carrying the wood they needed to fix the trawler. Alec and Jace strolled back out to where they had left Simon and Clary. Clary had a blanket draped over her legs and she was quietly chatting with Simon.

"Where'd you get the blanket?" Jace asked, an idea forming in his head.

"Uh, there's a pile at the side of the stage." Clary replied, slightly confused.

Jace dropped his black duffel bag on the stage and walked over to the pile of blankets. There was three in total, excluding the one Clary had. Jace picked them up and brought them to the centre of the stage.

Jace took out one of his many knives. This one had a very fat blade, but it was thin at the tip. _Perfect_. He wedged the blade in between two of the wooden floorboards and began to pry the boards loose. It was a slow process, even with Alec's help. They had to try and snap the boards to a smaller size, but they were tough and refused to snap easily. A small pile of wood formed beside the pile of blankets. Jace put the wood onto the blankets and made them into sacks, tying the tops with rope that had been found backstage.

"Ok, I think that's enough. We won't be able to carry anymore." Jace stated, staring at his handiwork with a smile on his face.

"Yeah." Alec agreed.

"Why do you need wood?" Clary asked, curiosity seeping into her gaze.

"To fix our boat." Jace replied.

"Whoa, you have a boat? And you didn't tell us? Why haven't we left on it yet?!" Simon asked, his voice beginning to rise with anger and frustration.

"Firstly, _Screamer_ ," Jace said, smiling as Simon flinched at his nickname "I'm not obligated to tell you anything. _I_ saved _your_ life remember? And secondly, I just didn't want to tell you."

"But you should've at least mentioned it! This changes everything! We can leave this country and it's crappy weather behind now that there's a boat involved." Simon persisted.

"Why the hell do you think we're getting the wood? The trawler got stuck on some rocks and got damaged. This wood can fix that. Now pick up a sack and help us carry it to the harbour! If you want to come with us, you have to pull your own weight." Jace ordered, getting pissed off by merely being in Simon's presence.

Simon grumbled but did as he was told. Clary picked up a sack of wood and slung it over her shoulder while Simon picked up the two remaining sacks. He struggled under the weight but he didn't drop anything.

As they walked up the side aisle that led to the exit of the building, Simon overbalanced and fell against the wall. The sacks fell to the floor and Simon bent over to pick them up. As he did so, he put his hand against the wall. Except it wasn't the wall. It was a frikkin fire alarm. _Of course it was._

The wretched alarm rang out through the building. It was loud and it could certainly be heard from the street. Loud noises attracted zombies. This was bad.

"Shit. Can't you do anything right Screamer?!" Jace shouted angrily.

Jace scooped one of the sacks up from the floor and began to run for the exit. Alec, Clary and Simon followed. As they burst out into the dull Irish city, they could see zombies stumbling towards them. Jace cursed and shoved the sack back at Simon. He drew a knife and Alec drew his sword. Jace also grabbed a smaller knife and handed it to Clary, who gripped it so hard her knuckles turned white. Her hand was shaking with fear.

"Hey! What about me?" Simon asked, even though his arms were occupied.

"You try to focus on _not_ falling over." Jace growled.

Simon narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Alec pointed toward the side street they had used to get to the Gate Theatre and Jace nodded. There was around ten zombies coming up that street, but it was nothing compared to the hundreds of others that were approaching from the remaining two exits. Jace sprinted toward the thin side street and the others followed.

The first zombie was dragging itself along the ground because it had no legs. This made it easy for Alec to embed his sword into its head. Alec removed the blood stained sword from the zombies head only to swing it at the next incoming dead person. This zombie got hit in the stomach by the deadly sword but it kept coming at Alec, rotten teeth showing. Jace jumped in with his knife and stabbed it in the head. The zombie stopped in its tracks and dropped to the ground, unmoving.

As Alec and Jace fought the zombies in front of them, a zombie came up behind Simon. Simon turned at the last second, and the zombie bit into a sack of wood. Simon yelped and Clary sprang forward, swinging the small knife and stabbing the zombie in the throat. It gurgled as blood poured out of its mouth, but it kept coming at them. Clary removed the knife and took another stab at it. This time, the knife met the zombies skull. The zombie growled but dropped to the ground, dead. For real this time.

Clary turned to see that Alec and Jace had cleared the street in front of them. Bodies lay sprawled across the ground, limbs missing and heads detached from their bodies. It was a gruesome sight and it smelled horrific. The air was thick with the stench of blood and rotten meat. Clary gagged as they continued down the street. She looked behind her and saw that there were no zombies following them. Instead, the undead were crowded around the strange looking theatre because the alarm was still ringing. _So Simon's mistakes can be helpful..._

Jace sprinted down the street and turned a corner. He ran straight into the back of something, or _someone_. It was a person, a wet living person. They had their back to him but were rubbing the back of their head and moaning. Jace clutched his nose where he had smashed it against the person's head. Blood streamed from his most likely broken nose. The other three rounded the corner and stopped in their tracks. The person turned around slowly and Jace was met with a familiar face. His eyes widened in shock.

" _Izzy_?" he asked, not believing what he was seeing.

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 **Well, that's my new chapter! Really hope you enjoyed it! I liked writing it so I hope it turned out well!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated but orals are stressful! I'm the stupid person that leaves studying until the night before but I think they went ok, at least I hope they did… Anyway, school's been harsh with homework over the Easter break but I'm going to try to update a little bit more frequently if I can.**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter. And thanks yet again to RevyCaitEll who beta read and helped me write this chapter. I would be lost without her so, if you can, read some of her stuff cause it really is amazing. Oh, and I was thinking about introducing another character but maybe someone who isn't actually from the Mortal Instruments. Maybe a random annoying Irish person? Let me know what you think cause I'm out of ideas! Enjoy :)**

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" _Izzy_?" Jace asked his eyes widening in shock.

"Jace!" Izzy squealed in reply.

She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing hard.

"Izzy stop! You're soaking wet!" Jace exclaimed, jumping away from his saturated companion.

Izzy glared at him but her eyes quickly turned to her brother. She took two brisk strides to reach Alec and then enveloped him in another one of her bear hugs.

"I'm glad you're ok." she whispered gently in his ear, sighing with relief.

An awkward cough broke the touching sibling moment. Simon looked very uncomfortable while Clary elbowed him in the ribs. Izzy finally noticed the strangers.

"Who are you?" She bluntly questioned, a finger pointed rudely in their direction. Subtlety was not known to the creature called Izzy. Before either of them could answer, Izzy turned her head to Jace and Alec.

"What did I tell you guys about picking up strays?"

"Well actually-"

"Well I don't _actually_ care. We won't able to care for them properly. Besides aren't they foreigners or something? Do they even speak our language?" Izzy closely inspected Clary and Simon, giving them exploratory pokes. She twisted one of Clary's fiery curls around her finger.

"I feel like I'm getting compared to a dog or something," Simon shied away from the crazy girl.

"It speaks!"

"I'm feeling patronised now,"

"Good for you Simon," Clary dead panned, not amused. "And could you stop doing that?!"

"Well, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Izzy stated.

Clary glared at Izzy, blatantly pissed off. Izzy stopped poking and prodding the strangers, not wanting to annoy them too much. If they were with Alec and Jace they must've of had some use. Maybe. If all ended badly they could use them as bait.

"What happened to the trawler? How did you even get ashore? We only had the one dingy." Alec intervened, diverting Izzy's attention back to him and Jace.

"Hm, I wonder. Maybe it has something to do with me being SOAKING WET. I swam you idiot! And I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking."

"Alright Izzy, no need to be so touchy. We know you can handle anything. But seriously, what's happened to the trawler? That's been our lifeline since this zombie mess started." Jace asked, concern lacing the edge of his voice.

"It still would've been nice to be asked if I was ok…," she grumbled. "Anyway, the trawler began leaning to the left. Really badly. As in I was standing vertical one minute and the next I was holding onto a metal bar for dear life, my feet dangling above the sea. Which is _unbelievably_ cold might I add!"

"Duh! It's what you'd expect from here. Ireland is right next door to England, which is known for its shitty weather!" Simon pulled a travel map of Ireland from his pocket, waving it around Izzy's head.

"Did you find any leprechauns?"

"No, unfortunately. Unless you count Clary as one…" Simon pointed his thumb in the small redhead's direction.

"Simon! Don't be an asshole," Clary glared at him, her eyes like daggers.

"Wait, let me get this straight Izzy," Jace interrupted "the boat sank, and you just left it? With all of our food, our weapons? What the hell were you thinking?! Did you bring anything with you? Did that even cross your mind?"

"Of course I did. But then I decided against going back to the boat and drowning. I'm a strong swimmer Jace, but I'm not that strong. Besides, all the food would be soaked and salty now anyway." Izzy replied, kicking her boot against the ground. A spray of water came out of the sodden shoe.

"I like salty food. But not wet food. That's kinda gross…" Simon said to no one in particular.

Simon dropped his makeshift bag of wood to the ground. His shoulder ached from the weight and it looked like they didn't even need the wood for the trawler anymore anyway. Clary did the same. Her hand was red from being crushed by the weight of the bag. She clutched the knife hard in her right hand. Her hand was trembling from the effort. She opened her mouth to say something but a menacing growl cut her off.

"Shit! We've been standing here too long. We could be surrounded for God's sake. We have to get out of the open." Alec warned.

Jace agreed. He opened the bags and emptied them of wood. They would be handy for gathering supplies. The group began moving through the abandoned street. Groans could be heard from nearby. Simon paled considerably.

"Come on! We gotta go!" Jace led the way bursting into an alley. He pulled out his knife, slicing through any zombie that got too close. Limbs were removed from bodies and insides tumbled out of open wounds. It was a horrific sight, but it had to be done to survive. It was all about survival these days. The others followed his lead, Clary and Simon sticking in the middle while Izzy and Alec took up the rear.

"You know I feel like we do this a lot. The whole running from undead dickheads that are trying to eat us is getting old." Simon remarked worriedly looking around. They looped back around so they were running parallel to O'Connell Street.

The fire alarm from the Gate Theatre could still be heard and zombies were

walking clumsily towards it. They passed a zombie that was dragging itself along the ground. Its legs were missing and bone could be seen through it rotten flesh. Clary gasped and stopped. The zombie snarled at her, reaching up and trying to grab her. Clary clutched the knife in her hand harder, if that was even possible. The others had stopped also to see what she was doing.

"Clary come on, we don't have time for this! Before we know it zombies will be surrounding us unless we _keep moving_." Jace hissed.

Clary looked at him and nodded. Before she continued, she brought the knife up into the air and slammed the blade into the zombie's head. It still moved so she brought down again and again until it stopped. She stood up with tears in her eyes. Something so helpless, undead or not, didn't deserve to be left like that. She stood up and pushed past Izzy, continuing after Jace. They all peered at her but said nothing.

* * *

The Liffey was a dirty river that ran through the middle of Dublin, separating it into North and South Dublin. There were two bridges left remaining to cross over the dank river. The bridges had chunks of Tarmac missing which led to Simon face planting multiple times.

By the time they had crossed the Ha'penny Bridge, Simon had gashes on both of his knees and had a severely bruised face. His glasses were smashed and his jeans were torn in places. _All because he couldn't stay upright_ , Jace smirked to himself. The skies began to darken with the promise of rain. They needed shelter for the night, somewhere dry and safe.

"Do you know about any of the buildings around here?" Jace asked Simon and Clary. They shared a glance.

"To stay?" The redhead questioned.

"No, to blow it up! Of course to stay!" Jace replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Didn't have to be so rude about it…"

"Oh! I know a place!" Simon bubbled with excitement at knowing the answer to a question. It was unbelievably stupid how Simon got excited over the simplest of things...

"There's a building just down here on the left called Forbidden Planet." Simon signalled to a black building just a few metres away.

Forbidden Planet was a comic shop, which explained why Simon knew all about it. Clary and him had spent hours in there reading manga and comics or looking at figurines. It's windows were blocked by movie posters which meant no one could see in, but no one could see out either. That was its only disadvantage. Also, it was the only building that hadn't been torn to shreds because it looked abandoned already with its dark exterior.

There was nobody inside and it looked completely untouched by the psychotic outside world. The shelves were filled to the brim with gaming merch, along with comics and manga. At least they wouldn't get bored. If only Max was there, he would've loved all of this nerdy stuff… but it was too late for him. He was already gone, claimed by the undead. _Bastards_ , Jace thought, a tear welling up in his eye.

"Right. This should do for the night. Alec and Izzy, you barricade the door. Clary and Simon, you see if there is any food in this place, like a staff are area. I'm going out to look for food elsewhere." Jace ordered.

"But-I-um-are you sure you should be going out by yourself?" Izzy asked, worry creasing her forehead.

"I'll be fine. I need to get rid of some steam anyway." Jace replied sternly. Images of Max were fresh in his head and he wanted blood for what had happened to the young Lightwood boy. Getting extra supplies would be an added bonus.

"I'll knock on the door three times when I'm back, then you can let me in." Jace continued.

He got one of the makeshift sack-bags and left the building, leaving his confused companions behind.

"And make sure the Screamer doesn't break anything or set the alarm off." He indicated towards Simon just as the heavy door shut behind him.

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I am so sorry that it has been so long since I've updated. School has been absolute mayhem cause a ton of projects are due this week for the exams. The teachers are going ballistic with homework and stuff and I have almost no time for myself anymore, let alone writing. But yeah, I'm really sorry it's been so long. I made this chapter longer for you guys though!**

 **Thanks again to my beta RevyCaitEll. I also haven't really known what to write about so that didn't exactly help the matters! Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Without further adieu, here is my new chapter!**

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Jace sprinted down the Quays and took a left into Temple Bar. Under Merchants Arch he stopped and allowed his mind to catch up with his actions. _Max_. Jace was blinded by the image of the young Lightwood boy as it smashed its way into his thoughts. Tears built up in his eyes as he thought of how Max had been brutally murdered by an undead being back in New York. Max didn't deserve to die so young, no one did. He was so innocent and he had so much to live for. But it all ended in an abrupt massacre. All of Max's hopes and dreams, gone within agonising minutes.

Jace choked as a sob built up in his throat. He wasn't exactly one for crying. In fact he was well known for keeping it together in the hardest of times. But when it came to Max, that all changed. It was his fault Max was gone. It was his fault Max had been bitten by a zombie. Everything, it was all his fault.

They had been going down around New York searching for supplies when the tragedy occurred. Jace had promised to bring Max out with him on his next supply trip and he was true to his word. All Max wanted was to see a real life zombie instead of looking at them in comic books. Jace had found a cabinet in a house they were raiding containing medical supplies; bandages, pills, antiseptics. He had been so overjoyed at what he had found he had lost track of Max who had ventured off to have a look around the supposedly abandoned building. When Jace had gone to find him, he lay on the floor of a bedroom with a zombie hunched over him.

There was barely any life left in Max. Jace stabbed the zombie and flung it out of the way. He had dropped to his knees beside Max, speechless and in utter shock. _How had it happened? Why of all people did it have to be Max?_ All of these questions raced through Jace's head as he cradled Max in his last living moments, trying desperately to comfort him. All Max did was stare at Jace, not saying a word. And that's how he died. Completely and utterly silent. He had been so strong considering he was only nine. Dying in such a brutal way would have driven anyone to pure madness. But not Max.

Jace clenched his fists as he straightened up from his hunched over position. His face was streaked with tears that he hadn't realised had fallen. He shook his head, despair clouding his thoughts. It didn't work. He was bombarded by images of Max sprawled across a couch reading manga or him jumping into Izzy's arms when they returned from a mission. So many memories, so much pain.

That was it. Jace had to do something or he was going to explode. His eyes scanned the area until they landed on a walking mound of flesh. Hatred pulsed through his veins at the sight of the creature. He unsheathed his knife, the blade glistening in the dull daylight. The clouds overhead had turned a wretched black colour and rain threatened to fall at any moment.

With his hand clenched around the knife, knuckles white with the effort, Jace charged at the creature. His movements were influenced by his rage making them clumsy and inaccurate. He was lucky he was going against something brain dead or he would have been dead by now.

The knife sliced through the rotten flesh effortlessly. Chunks of skin were ripped to shreds as the blade slashed and diced its way through the zombie. It may have been a barbaric way to kill the creature but it was satisfying. By the time the zombie had dropped to the cobblestones below, it was in pieces. Limbs were missing, organs had fallen out of their original places. The gruesome sight and potent smell would turn anyone's insides out.

However this didn't stop Jace. If anything, he wanted _more_. He _needed_ more. Jace turned his head to look up and down the small square he had entered. There was multiple pubs within the one square. Apparently the Irish did like to drink a lot. Or at least that was portrayed in the sheer amount of bars and pubs around the city.

His eyes flickered around the square, desperate to find something to kill. The golden orbs land on a herd of zombies crowded around something, most likely a body, in the middle of street that led away from the square. A smirk played on his lips as he strolled towards the group decaying people. There was at least ten of them and they were busy feeding on something. Jace tried not to look too closely at what they were eating.

His grip tightened on the knife which gave him more confidence. If Alec was here he would've told Jace that he was being completely stupid and that he must've had a death wish to fight alone in an unknown city. And maybe he did have a death wish. There was only so long they could survive for so who cared if he was prancing on the edge of death. Besides, it certainly gave him a rush that he couldn't get from doing anything else.

As he approached the group his smirk widened. He was standing right behind them and they hadn't noticed him. _This was going to be fun_ , he thought as he brought the knife into the air. In one swift movement he plunged his knife into a zombie's head. There was a spray of blood as Jace removed the knife from the creature's skull. The body crumpled to the ground and caught the attention of his fellow comrades in death. They all stopped feeding and stared at him in a moment of silence. Then all hell broke loose.

Snarls erupted from their throats as they rose to their feet. For beings so decayed they moved pretty quickly. They moved as one. Every single one of them charged at Jace at the exact same time. Jace would've admired their unison had they not been trying to kill him.

An arm swung at Jace which he ducked under. His own arm shot forward and the knife collided with a leg. He felt a hand close around his arm and he tried to shake free of its grasp but the thing was surprisingly strong and he just couldn't yank his arm free. Instead of trying to squirm his arm free he sliced through the arm of the zombie. The hand was still closed around his upper arm but he managed to pry it off. It was more of a struggle than he would've liked it to be.

Jace brought his attention back to the fight. He sunk his blade into the skull of the zombie with the stabbed leg. It dropped to the cobblestones, dead for good. Jace swung around and removed the head of another zombie. It made a sickening thud as it thumped to the ground. Jace swept the legs out from underneath another zombie. When it fell to the ground he was already on top of it, a knee on its chest, a knife in its head.

Two more zombies ran at him. He sidestepped one and pushed it into the other. They fell over one another, a tangle of limbs. It was actually quite funny watching them try to remove themselves from one another. Jace decided to stop their suffering by embedding his knife in their heads.

"Now, isn't that better?" he smirked.

There was only four left. Jace focused on the next pair that were charging him. Their teeth were bared in horrific snarls. The side of one zombie's head was dented. This one must've had issues in the past. It swung an arm at him. Jace tried to dodge but got clipped across the face for his efforts. Nails had dug into his skin and he could feel blood already welling up in the wound. _I wish they would cut their nails,_ Jace thought sombrely.

He rewarded the zombie with a knife to the face. As the zombie fell, Jace couldn't remove the knife. He was forced to release it as the other zombie took a swing at him. He narrowly ducked under the stump of an arm. This zombie had a crazed look in its eye unlike the others. This was the zombie whose arm he had cut off. No wonder it seemed to have a personal hatred for him. Who could blame it though? It probably wasn't a nice experience having an arm removed without permission.

Another arm came at him but he dodged again. He returned a swing at the zombie. It's reflexes weren't as quick and it got hit square in the jaw. It stumbled backwards and that was all the time Jace needed. He dove for the knife that was still stuck in its skull and yanked it out. He turned onto his back and rolled to his feet. He slashed at the zombie's chest but was only rewarded with a grunt. He swung again and the knife dug into the throat of the zombie. It gurgled and snarled but kept coming at him. He took his final swing which landed in the centre of the forehead. The zombie paused for a moment and then crashed to the ground. The force of the fall ripped the knife out of its head.

Jace looked upwards and saw another zombie. He smirked and ran towards it. Well, he thought he had ran towards it but instead he ended up face planting into the cobblestones. His face got scraped and his vision went blurry but he was able to clear his head. He looked back towards where he'd been standing and realised that there was a live zombie on the ground gripping his ankle. _So that's where the other one went. And no one told me they could play dead!_ Jace thought as he shook his foot from its grip.

Jace made a move to get up but the other zombie was already on top of him. He raised his arms above his face as the zombie tried to bite him. The teeth sunk into his jacket but didn't break through. Jace had always loved this jacket, it really was a life saviour.

The zombie that had grabbed his foot joined the other zombie in trying to gnaw on him. Jace found himself curled up in a ball, desperately trying to hide any uncovered flesh. He felt them biting his arms and grabbing at his head but he didn't budge. He stayed curled up in a tight ball. The whole death wish thing seemed so much clearer and closer now than he thought it would ever be. Earlier he had considered it yes, but not seriously. He didn't actually want to die. He wanted to live as long as possible, to kill as many of the bastards as he could, and to keep the others safe. He wanted-

His thought were interrupted by the sound of wood smashing and splintering above him. There was suddenly no weight on top of him. There was nothing trying to eat him alive. He pulled his arms away from his face and looked up, trying desperately to figure out what the hell was going on.

His eyes landed on a short, blond girl with a pointed stick in her hand. She looked no more than fourteen. She was only around 5'2, if even, and her hair was a strange shade of blond. It wasn't white but it wasn't exactly blond either. She brought the stick down into a zombie's head and then straightened up.

She turned to Jace, her blue eyes unreadable. She pointed the stick at him and he didn't move. They just stared at each other. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the teeth marks on his jacket. She pressed the point of the stick against his chest.

"Did you get bit?" she asked. Her hand was steady, as if she had done this multiple times.

"No, I didn't. So could you stop pressing that thing into my chest?" Jace replied as he pushed the stick off of his chest.

"Sorry but ya can never be too careful," her accent was thick. And Irish. She was local.

"That's true. And thanks a by the way. But how exactly did you know I was here?"

"I was up in that buildin' there and I saw ya were in trouble. So I decided to help ya." She pointed a finger towards a dark, average looking building. It wasn't very big but the windows were tinted.

Jace got to his feet. She really was short. As short as Clary, if not shorter.

"Well, um, thanks for the help and all but I best be getting back to the others." Jace stated as he turned to walk away.

"There's others?! Really? Now way! Can I come? I haven't seen other people in weeks! And I just saved your life so I think that ya at least owe me this much." Her eyes were massive blue orbs that stared at him in hope.

For some unknown reason, Jace warmed to the girl. He liked how she could defend herself and she seemed to be completely unfazed by the fact that she had just stabbed a person in the head. She would be a handy little weapon to have. But Izzy was already pissed that he had brought back Clary and Simon with them so she wouldn't exactly warm to the idea of yet another person being added to the group. But then again, at this stage, they could use all the help they could get.

"Alright, you can come back with me. But do me a favour and let me speak to them, you just keep quiet at first all right? Some of them may not take it very well." he asked.

"Ah sound! This is class! I'll be quiet, I swear on it!"

"Ok then. My name's Jace. What's yours?"

"Aoife. The name's Aoife. And it's very nice to meet ya Jace."

Jace smiled in return. This was going to be an interesting experience.

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 **So that's it! What did you guys think? Good? Bad? And how do you think Aoife is pronounced? Let me know in your reviews please! I'm interested to see if people know how to say it… Anyway, thanks again and I hope you liked it.**


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